Hello!!! Remember me? :) I don't know what I have been doing lately, but obviously not blogging! I haven't even checked blogs in months. Shocking. I know.  This fall has been a fun one with lots of birthdays and soccer.  We have had four birthdays in the house in the last month, five if you count the summer, all five kids played soccer this fall with two on traveling teams, and all are in school(with three different schedules!).

Here are some pictures to help me document what has been going on this fall and catch you up to speed. That is, unless you are on Facebook! ;) Facebook is just so quick and easy!

Kir & I got to go to the store opening of Hot Mama and watch Kristina in action.  

At the end of the summer, Greta and Justus's soccer teams both came in first place in  a soccer tournament.

She just makes me smile, so I had to post this picture. :) This was her trial outfit for back to school(I told her she needed something longer on)

Kristina came to visit and Kwame(as well as the rest of the kids, love her).

This is how you do pre-teen bday parties. Give them airsoft guns and let them go to town. ;) Yeah  right! 

Kristina's protege's :)

Loved this idea that I stole from my friend Anji and Becky and I was so happy the the kids humored me.  If you wonder why Fia's number is so small, it is because I thought I had a 2nd grader and ran out of poster board, so I had to cut the 2 down to a 1. LOL! And yes, I am saving these numbers and just adding on the missing digits.

Our school mascot-an ORCA! 

My mom and I got to road trip down and do some shopping together too at Hot Mama.  Super fun!

Myself and these lovely ladies(plus Joyce  who's taking the picture) got to get away  on a Women's Retreat  for a weekend.  Lots of great times with late night chatting, worship, canoeing, paddleboarding, and maybe some trouble. ;)

Daron took his annual Fall Harvest trip back to the farm in MN and this year it was Greta's turn to go with and help.  She got on the combine a little bit, but I think she mostly helped watch the kids with Grandma, which she thought was fun too!  It's so neat that her Aunt Sarah is doing the farming with Grandpa now.

Fia is the first of the fall birthdays and she turned 7!!! I can't believe when I first saw her picture she was only 3! Time has gone so quickly.

Fia is in 1st grade now and doing a fantastic job.  She seems to get an award every  other day for her hard work and helpful spirit.  She is such a good friend to everyone!

Fia had a birthday party and got to have some of her friends come and play for a couple of hours.  What a blast they had!

Ella was the next birthday and she turned 9!! I can't believe it! Ella is in third grade now and loves music and art.   For her birthday party, she decided to have a cooking party, so we made ice cream, smoothies, and had fondue.  We also went on a hike up to the local park and got to run around for a bit too on a beautiful October day.   

This was the last game of the season for Ella.  She had a great team and alot of fun.  Fia and Kwame had a fun season too with a few of their friends and a great coach(haha-me!) Greta  and Justus are still playing through December. 

Halloween-enough said. 

'Double you pleasure, double your fun' -Randi and I were the  Doublemint Twins for a GNO and we had a good time! She made the shirts and these awesome sparkly skirts for us, but I don't have another picture on my computer now, so this will have to do!

Greta and Daron's birthdays were next and they always go on a date  on the day between their birthdays.  They had a great time and I think Greta felt special on her 11th birthday.

And Daron, well, this was his 40th birthday!!!  Enough said. ;) 

One major downer this winter was that Grandma Bev broke her foot in many places this fall, so she has been  off her foot and healing for a LONG time.  So, one day off of school, we grabbed her and took her on our errands.  Of course, Starbucks was the 1st stop for us. :)

One major highlight this fall was meeting Steven Curtis Chapman again.  We went to his concert and got to volunteer at the www.showhope.org booth.  Show Hope gave us a large grant to help bring Fia and Kwame home and while we were at the concert, they asked if we could go up on stage as an example of where the money they raise for Show Hope goes. Of course we said yes and the kids were nervous and excited at the same time.  SCC is an amazing person, and we had the best time getting to talk to him again and listen to his music.  Josh Wilson and Andrew Peterson were also there too.  Amazing musicians and great storytellers, so we were also thrilled to see them in perform in person and also meet Andrew Peterson after the concert.

SCC performing songs and answering questions at a Q&A before the concert

Up on stage....

I was touched by this...Justus 'dressed up' on Veteran's Day in honor of his Uncle Joel who is currently deployed in the army.

Well, there you have it! There is obviously more that I have left out, but this is already a super long post! We are healthy and with have a lot of thankfulness in our hearts as we come up to Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am so thankful for my family, friends, and good food and football that we get to experience tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Month in Review

Well, I have gotten very bad at keeping up here, but there is still so much that I want to document, so that when I look back at these blog posts, I can remember all that we did as a family.

At the beginning of February, we celebrated the Jag 7 two year anniversary! It was two years ago, on February 6, that my mom and I brought Fia and Kwame home from Ghana to join our family forever.  The time went quickly and at the same time it feels like they have always been a part of our lives. We are so fortunate to have them in our lives and all our kids are such blessings individually and together.  They LOVE each other so much, and I am proud of that. To celebrate this year, we had a Super Bowl Party! ;) I felt bad at first that it was the same day, but then I realized that there is nothing more that our family would like than to hang out with friends and family! So, it actually was really fun and special.  We also asked Fia and Kwame what they would like for a special breakfast and they chose Swedish pancakes (too bad I don't have any Ghanaian pancake recipes!).  We also gave them each a soccer ball that we had been saving from when we were in Ghana.  They were so excited to have their own and they couldn't wait to go and play with them.  



 

Love the slogans on all things 'Ghana'!

Later in the month, Mary and Maynad (Grandma and Grandpa Farm) came to visit from MN.  It is always a highlight for our family to have them come and visit.  This time they stayed at a hotel for the first couple nights for the kids to be able to take turns sleeping over, use the pool, and take part in the extravagent buffets that they have at this casino/hotel.  The kids loved it (and so did we)! We also got to take them to Greta's soccer game, Justus's basketball game, marimba practice, a OneStepIn project for church, and take part in a romantic(haha) Valentine's Day dinner(king crab legs) at our house.  One highlight for me was that they took us to a chinese restaurant.  I don't know the last time that I had been to chinese and I don't think the kids ever had, so it was so much fun for us all to practice eating with the chopsticks together, as well as try out some great new food.  Basically, they spoiled us with things we don't always get to do, so I was thankful.  Daron and Maynard also took care of some of our odds and end projects that needed to be done, so the house looks SO much better with the upgrades.



Looks like they had fun at the movies!



How lucky to have both sets of grandparents together in one place!



Ella, pretending she is a OLD! :) Cracks me up!



 These wonderful ladies came one morning, instead of us doing our Bible study, to help me clean out my garage.  It was AMAZING how fast we got it organized and straightened up so I could (for the FIRST in 4 years)get our car in the garage.  Very impressive! And, I have to say that three weeks later, the car is still in the garage! :)

 Last week, I took Greta for her bi-yearly check-up into the Children's Hospital to see how her growth plate was healing in her elbow area. Well, we had GREAT news.  They said that it looks totally normal now and we don't have to come back any longer.  When this happened, two years ago, they said she would have to come back every 6 months until she stopped growning and then she would need surgery.  Well, it's HEALED and we are thrilled.  The only problem...Greta and I were liking our guilt free trips that we had to go into the city for...we might have to keep it going to celebrate.

 We also got to throw a surprise party for my niece's birthday.  The cousins had so much fun and I think she was excited after the initial bewilderment of the surprise.  She didn't realize that all the questions about her favorite food and dessert were for this.  Super fun! And no, the adults didn't eat the mac n cheese, we got some delicious sliders that Brad made(right Dad?)!

 Overall, we had a fantastic month, full of family and fun.  Coming up this month....Alive Covenant Church is celebrating our 5th anniversary this Sunday! I am so excited.  If you live in the area and have ever wanted to check it out, this is the Sunday to do it.  4:56pm at the Sons of Norway!

Daddy Daughter Dance

 (Do I have posers or WHAT???!!)

 It's that time of year again and the three girls just left on a date with their Dad for the annual Daddy/Daughter dance.  The girls got ready without Daron seeing them and he drove around the block, rang the doorbell, and whisked them off to the dance.  I am sure they are having a great time together now dancing away with all their friends (and their dad) and I can't wait to hear all about it. The girls were so excited and they all looked beautiful! To be honest, the primping part was a little crazy and I can definitely wait to have three teenage girls getting ready for a dance!

Happy 8th Birthday EllaBellaGrace!

Happy 8th Birthday Ella! I love you, your smile, your laughter, and your love of life. You are so special to us!

A month or so ago, Ella found this double bagel and said she wanted it for her birthday. So we froze it-haha- and TA-DA!!, she got it for her breakfast in bed this morning. She was thrilled!

After school we gave her a scavenger hunt to find her present-it was a PINK GUITAR! She wants to be a rock star and loves singing and dancing, so we figured, let's do it!

As I speak, she is writing out a song to sing on her new guitar! ;) I love it.

Happy birthday EllaBellaGrace! We LOVE you!